Skin conditions 1

Few days after my daughter was born, I noticed some rash-like appearances on her face. Before I could do anything about it, it had spread to her scalp and was ‘chewing’ off her hair. We sought medical assistance and used some prescribed topical medication to no avail, for months my daughters’ skin looked like a rag dolls’.

Much later, another pediatrician advised that we retrace our steps, she inquired our daily patterns of caring for our daughter and recommended some changes.

Until then, I didn’t know eczema was hereditary. I always viewed it as a ‘dirty disease’. It never occurred to me that certain conditions could be responsible for flares-up and above all, I didn’t know it doesn’t have a cure.

Eczema is a form of dermatitis (inflammation of the upper part of the skin aka dermis). Most times it occurs as a form of allergy, it’s your skins way of telling you that it doesn’t like whatever you’ve been exposing it to. In my daughters’ case, it was the heat. Being born mid-February, I would still cover her up in thick overalls, mittens and a cap and of course, her bath water had to be a certain temperature because that’s what ‘everybody’ advised. I didn’t realize her skin wasn’t getting enough ventilation.

Like I mentioned previously, eczema is hereditary but it requires ‘unfavorable’ conditions to trigger it. Such triggers may include heat, pregnancy, hormonal imbalance, topical applications as in certain soaps and creams and/or stress. Remember that old wives tale about sharing clothes? You can dismiss that myth because eczema is not contagious but be sure no liquid is seeping from the inflamed area.

Not up to a week after applying the ‘no heat’ treatment and adequate moisturisation (eczema-prone skin is usually dry and requires extra moisturizing) on my daughter, I couldn’t believe the positive changes. Her skin cleared without any scars but her hair which had fallen off in patches took longer to grow out. She’s 3+ now and yet to have a relapse.

Are you prone to eczema? Does someone in the family have it? Have you ever taken note of what flares it up in your case? Hit me up in the comment section below.